Thursday, March 12, 2015

Turf wars

The former head of the New Orleans Taxicab Bureau has filed a federal
lawsuit against the city of New Orleans, claiming he was wrongfully
fired for expressing concerns about the "ride-sharing" transportation
service Uber.

Thou shalt not take the name of Uber in vain.. or so goes the claim, I guess. I'm sure several people will yell at me over the next several weeks that Hull is a bad person and such. Maybe they're right. But consider this is a main part of the argument against him.

The city fired Hull in July 2014 after two Taxicab Bureau investigators under his supervision were charged with assault. After Hull was fired, Inspector General Ed Quatreveaux released a damning report on his tenure as director, accusing Hull of operating a rogue agency that allowed its employees to carry mace, handcuffs and act like a quasi-police force.

Note that one year after firing this "rogue" for creating a "quasi-police force," the city has gotten together with the hospitality industry (some aspects of which Hull's department once regulated) to create its own quasi-police force.